Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
After the 8-7 vote, Mullin’s nomination will move to the Senate.
Thursday’s vote comes a day after Mullin, a Republican. appeared before the committee in a contentious nomination hearing in which the GOP chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, questioned whether Mullin should lead the department given his “anger issues.”
Paul of Kentucky voted against advancing Mullin’s nomination because he was the only Republican on the panel to oppose another senator.
But because Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with the rest of the Republicans, Mullin’s nomination advanced.
In a statement, Fetterman said his vote to approve Mullin was “based on a strong, committed and constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin for the security of our nation.”
Paul objected at Wednesday’s hearing to Mullin calling him a “fucking snake” and expressing sympathy for a neighbor who attacked Paul in 2017, breaking six of his ribs and puncturing a lung.
Mullin told senators at the hearing that he plans to run DHS differently than Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the former South Dakota governor who the president removed from her post earlier this month and reassigned to another position within the administration.
Mullin said he would eliminate several policies introduced by Noem, such as the requirement that disaster grants be personally approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
He added that he didn’t want DHS “to be in the news every day,” citing immigration officials’ aggressive enforcement tactics caught on camera, including their involvement in the deaths of two Minneapolis residents.
Mullin is likely to leave his Senate seat after voting for his own nomination to lead DHS. It is similar to a move by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last year, when he gave up his U.S. Senate seat representing Florida after voting to confirm his nomination to head the State Department.
The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, said Thursday that DHS “needs a leader who can restore the trust that DHS has broken with the American people” and that he was not confident Mullin could meet that challenge.
Peters, like Paul, expressed concerns about Mullin’s “temperament to lead this critical department.”
“There will be no shortage of policy disagreements that the new DHS secretary will face,” Peters said. “The department and the American people deserve a leader who is resilient and proven under pressure, not just someone who is better than the very low bar set by his predecessor.”
